Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, known as Sally, grew up in Marathon County, Wisconsin. As an adult she spent a short time working in Washington D.C. before returning to Wausau to marry and raise a family. This series of posts takes us page by page through the photo album of her teen years and young adulthood. She was an active and vibrant gal. These photos show her doing things she could no long do when her mobility became limited in the following decades.
She collected photographs. Lots and lots of photographs. She took most of them and posed in many. This series gives us a glimpse of Sally’s young life, through her own pictures.
Wisconsin, Arlington, and Atlantic City
The 44th page of Sally’s photo album featured a collection of photos taken in Wisconsin, Washington DC, Arlington National Cemetery and Atlantic Cemetery. We possibly get our first glimpses of Norman, Sally’s future husband.
One more apple blossom photo
There does seem to be no end to the apple blossom photos. Makes one wonder if Sally got her pictures developed and thought, “Whoa, I took a lot of pictures that day!”
Pictured: Unidentified.
Location: Washington, D.C.
Date: circa 1932.
Folks from Wisconsin
This album page had three photos that were likely of folks back home in Wisconsin. Is that Norman in the last couple photos?
A yet to be identified couple on a farm in Wisconsin.
Pictured: Unidentified.
Location: Wisconsin.
Date: Unknown.
Is the guy on the right Norman?
Pictured: Unidentified.
Location: Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.
Date: circa 1932-33.
Is the guy on the far right Norman?
Pictured: Unidentified.
Location: probably Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.
Date: circa 1932-33.
Arlington National Cemetery
Location: Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, D.C.
Date: 1932-33.
Location: Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, D.C.
Date: 1932-33.
United States Patent Office Building
This is where Sally worked when she was in Washington, D.C. It was the U.S. Patent Office.
Location: United States Patent Office, Washington, D.C.
Date: 1932-33.
Atlantic City
The rest of the photos on this page of the album were from an outing that Sally and her friend Pearl took to the beach at Atlantic City, New Jersey. It is a bit of a hike from DC to Atlantic City. It was probably at least a four-hour trip even if they had access to a car. More likely, they probably took a train to get there.
Pearl was a good friend to Sally when they were in Washington D.C. together. We’ve seen her in several photos in the previous pages of the album. While Sally’s sons thought that Pearl was a roommate of Sally, the city directories of the time would indicate that they lived separately but worked together at the U.S. Patent Office. Pearl was listed as a clerk in the patent office with an address of 1420 M NW. Sally was listed as a stenographer with an address if 757 Quincy Pl NW. Their home addresses were about 2.6 miles apart, but they worked in the same office building.
Others living at 757 Quebec were Mary J. Wright ad Julia B. Ridenour. Maybe this is the Mary we’ve seen in several photos? She was a clerk at the YWCA. Maybe Sally found her housing in Washington through her connections with the YWCA? She was an active member back in Wausau. Julia was a stenographer, but the directory failed to record her place of employment.
In any case, good friends Sally and Pearl enjoyed time at the beach!
Location: Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Date: circa 1932-33.
Location: Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Date: circa 1932-33.
Location: Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Date: circa 1932-33.
Pictured: Pearl Nelson.
Location: Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Date: circa 1932-33.
Pictured: Pearl Nelson.
Location: Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Date: circa 1932-33.
Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.
Location: Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Date: circa 1932-33.
Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.
Location: Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Date: circa 1932-33.
Many thanks to Uncle Chuck Krueger for gifting Sally’s photo albums to me. I suppose I’m the only one who is obsessed enough with family history to spend hours and hours doing something with them. Of course, I thought I should find a way to share.
I didn’t join the Krueger family soon enough to meet Sally. She died 15 May 1983, just two weeks after I started dating her grandson (now my husband). I’m sad that I missed getting to know her. I’m glad that she left a legacy of photos that help me see a side of her that maybe even her own family didn’t get to see.
Many of the faces and places in the photographs are not labeled. If you can help identify someone or someplace, correct any mistake I may have made, or otherwise add to the story, please contact me, for example by submitting a comment. Thanks.
Who is Who?
Fred and Alice Aschbrenner family
Sally Aschbrenner, the subject of this series of posts, was the daughter of Alice Rosalie Fehlhaber and Frederick A. Helmut Aschbrenner. She had one brother named Freddy.
Three-generation pedigree chart
The Aschbrenner Family
- Publication date: February 2022
- Pages: 728
- Formats:
- This books explores Aschbrenner family history. Friedrich August Aschbrenner had a son, named Friedrich Samuel Aschbrenner, who immigrated to Marathon County, Wisconsin. This book traces thousands of descendants of the immigrant. Detailed biographies are provided for the families of our direct line from Friedrich Samuel Aschbrenner through Frederick Wilhelm Aschbrenner and Frederick August Helmut Aschbrenner to Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.
- Winner of the Wisconsin Historical Society 2023 Board of Curators Genealogy/Family History Book Award.
Leave a Reply